I've always said that anytime Congress can provide us direction and answer the question of how they would like the commission to implement something, then I am totally supportive.
While I originally sought broader reforms to the Kid Vid regulations, what we have ended up with is a reasoned and balanced compromise. In the end, this effort takes modest but important steps toward a freer television market, and it's a deal for which nearly all sides can claim some measure of victory, especially the children.
Despite the intended purpose of 911 fees, some states have diverted these resources to nonrelated or, worse yet, nonpublic safety purposes.
Fundamentally, adopting rules without any estimate of the impact is the height of arbitrary decision-making.
Notably, the FCC fact sheet regarding the net neutrality plan does not mention any accommodations for small providers.
The use of automated technology generally translates into lower costs, freeing up resources for more efficient uses, including lower prices.
Quite simply, when D.C. Metro riders - often the first to see a problem developing - try to notify first responders, they frequently are unable to receive a signal strong enough to make a simple call to 9-1-1 to report the emergency.
First, a company cannot knowingly make misrepresentations and inaccurate statements before the Commission... It appears that Netflix made accusations of wrongdoing by ISPs, all the while knowing that its own practices were one of the causes of consumer video downgrading.
I know that there is a near unanimous view in Congress that state or local taxes on Internet access would directly deter the ability of consumers to obtain and utilize the Internet. If that is an accepted premise, as it should be, the same concept should apply to the net neutrality debate and its certainty to increase consumer bills.
We owe it to consumers to treat their dollars with respect and to double- and triple-check our assumptions about complex marketplaces rather than getting locked into a regulatory tunnel vision that will ultimately leave consumers with fewer, more expensive choices.
Allowing staff to dictate frameworks and policy outcomes without appropriate checks by elected leaders has corrosive effects.
Preventing staff from having too much influence and decision-making power is fairly easy. Appropriate procedural safeguards can be installed to prevent staff from, among other things, self-dealing, making decisions in an isolated manner, or committing funds without oversight.
For a gut punch of nostalgia, consider that Saturday morning cartoons are now largely a thing of the past.
The overall effect of the Kid Vid rules has been to force networks to prioritize less popular content. Some of this programming attracts reliable viewership among older children, but younger children largely aren't watching.
Regulatory creep usually starts with calls for 'regulatory parity.' The mantra will be, if you are going to impose certain regulations, then it is only fair to stick it to all market participants equally.
Well, the United States will continue to be a world leader in wireless communications.
Maybe Wi-Fi is a good technology to stretch existing networks beyond their edges to more rural portions of our nation. Similarly, Wi-Fi may be the cheapest and fastest way to bring Internet access to the huge populations of the world now without it.
American families want high-quality children's television programming. Unfortunately, due to outdated rules, broadcasters are hamstrung from meeting market demand.
During its retransmission dispute, CBS pulled its signal off of certain cable TV systems - and also blocked all Time Warner broadband customers from accessing CBS's Web-based content, even outside the territory of dispute. This is precisely the kind of content-blocking broadband providers are so often accused of but aren't actually doing.
